How to Protect Your Online Business

Don't go through all the work, money, and trouble of creating an online business without ensuring that it (and you!) are protected. You need more than just terms and conditions to do this—play good defense for your business from the start. You'll want to protect yourself from hackers, viruses, and lawsuits, and you need to ensure your customers' data is safe as well.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Setting Up Your Online Business

Check the major Internet registries such as Bluehost, Godaddy, NetRegistry to ensure your chosen name is not yet taken. If you find that your preferred name is available, register the .com and all other surrounding domain names, such as .net, .org, .info, etc. to ensure that competitors do not try to buy it. They also might ask you to pay an exorbitant price if you want to buy it in the future.^{[1]XResearch source}
2
Check your company's name registration. Is the company or business name already registered by someone else? If you decide to register the business name you can check government sites such as the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. or, in Australia the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or in the UK, Companies House. ^{[2]XResearch sourcewww.sec.gov},^{[3]XResearch sourcewww.asic.gov.au}
- If your online business becomes big, you may find out too late that someone has already registered your business name and you will have to consider changing your website name if they registered the company name first.^{[4]XResearch source}
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3
Protect your Intellectual Property (IP). Register your Intellectual Property immediately. If you are setting up a website, you need to consider protecting your idea. You receive immediate copyright protection for anything you create, but you also need to consider protecting your trademark in your logo and any tagline by registration.
- In the U.S., you can search and lodge this online at the Patent and Trademark Office and in Australia you can do this at IP Australia.^{[5]XTrustworthy SourceUnited States Patent and Trademark OfficeU.S. government agency responsible for registering and protecting patents and trademarksGo to source}^{[6]XResearch source}
- Many countries have an online search and registration function so just do an Internet search for "intellectual property" in your country.^{[7]XResearch source}
4
Find a website designer and get the site code. Check reviews — do not pay all fees upfront but rather hold back a percentage until you are completely satisfied with the work. You could test them out with a smaller project first. You need to ensure they are responsive, deliver on time, and understand your style and requirements.
- You should be involved in the design and content of website since you have the most expertise about the business and products.
- Research your different options for a web hosting service. Determine the needs of your online business and choose one that meets your requirements. Look for things like 24-hour support, storage space, and uptime.
- Most importantly, ensure you agree that at the end of your project, they are going to give you your software code and passwords. If you don't have these, it's difficult to get funding and impossible to sell your business.^{[8]XResearch source}
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Avoiding Penalties and Lawsuits

1
Use your own legal documents. You should never copy someone else's! No matter what your website designer/developer says, do not copy. Regulators are now starting to focus on consumer protection and in many countries they are issuing penalties to websites for non-compliant Privacy Polices and Terms. It's not worth taking the chance of being sued in your business and not worth the penalty.
- There are many inexpensive online services offering wording for Terms, Privacy, etc., including TermsFeed, iubenda, and Free Privacy Policy.^{[9]XResearch source}
2
Protect your business from lawsuits. If you have a website that is a classifieds site or other people can post things such as photos, comments, images, advertisements, you should protect yourself and your business against any claims. This could include non-receipt of a product, problems with goods and services, defamatory comments, breach of copyright, etc.
- You should ensure they agree in writing to take over any litigation before letting them post as you are responsible for everything on your website.
- Personal guarantees without financial capability are worthless. You will need to set up a pre-approval process of anything posted on website.
- Make sure to get a physical confirmation that customers are aware of liability limits before use. Communicate limits such as return policies on invoices, privacy policies, and terms and usage policies on websites to all customers.
3
Provide a refund policy. If you ensure you have visible and clear policy terms on refunds, delivery, replacements, warranties, etc., you will not only protect yourself and your business, help to minimize any confusion for your customers. Many countries have a requirement that you make your refund and return policies clear upfront.
- Examples of refund policies include offering a one-year warranty, stating refunds are accepted within 30 days with all tags attached, or stating that a replacement will be offered if the product is damaged during shipping or does not perform as promised.
- You can never ensure you will never be sued. But you can protect yourself and your online business by setting it up correctly, and by checking that you are not breaching anyone else's copyright idea, name, terms and policies.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Protecting Against Hackers and Viruses

1
Update your computer security safeguards often. Enroll in automatic updates that install security patches. Also purchase anti-virus software, again with automatic updates. You will also want software that blocks spam and detects spyware.^{[10]XResearch source}
- Companies that sell this type of software include McAfee, Norton, AVG and Avira.
2
Use encryption software. This will protect your customers’ financial information from theft during transactions as well as your own internal data. Visa USA and MasterCard require most businesses operating online to verify that they have taken a number of steps, including data encryption, to protect customers who use their credit cards.^{[11]XResearch source}
- Encryption software companies include Dekart Keeper, CryptoForge and Sensi Guard.
3
Limit access to sensitive information. Make sure your employees have a need to know in order to access certain information such as customer credit card numbers. For remote access to the company computer system, require a user name, access password and also a second password that changes frequently.^{[12]XResearch source}
- Employees also need to be extra careful to not lose cell phones, laptop computers, and other mobile devices that contain sensitive information.
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Warnings

Always do a business or company name search before choosing your domain name.
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Never copy terms or privacy statements from other sites. You need to ensure you meet your local country and state requirements, not someone else's.
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